a buddy of mine (who shared several files) recently got a call from his service provider saying his service would be shut off if he didnt take down his files. apparently if he kept it up, the mpaa would' ve gotten involved, fines, etc. has this happened to anyone else? frankly, it just doesnt seem worth it. i dunno...just spooked me out. thoughts anyone?

http://www.cybergrass.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=75

They' ve never done something like that to me. I guess it' s because I live in such a rural area...I doubt my IP would even know that such things existed.

On a related note I am very saddened by the abrupt departure of most of the bittorrent sites, and in particular Suprnova. Seems like they all got served a cease and desist or something like that...

Sounds like a rubbish host to me. I can reccomend some good ones...

yeah maybe....but it seems from im reading that they are goin after whoever gives them a reason. i didnt really buy into it until it happened to someone i knew. i mean....even if its just a fine...its a really freaking expensive fine. not in the cards for me anymore.

What' s he sharing and where' s he from?? I live in Canada, and can share pretty much any song or video files I want without any worry of legal consequence right now.

I think that things are different in the US than they are in Canada. in fact i kno they' re different if you dont have any trouble. the guy i know had basically copied several DVDs onto his computer and placed them in his share folder. his ISP realized this somehow, and told him to quit it, or face the consequences. as i said, my buddy immediately took them down as he had no pressing urge to pay a fine. heh. but it makes me think of how bad i couldve been nailed back in the day. no more for me....

NOw i' m not sure how movies are being dealt with, But I' d think they' d be treated the same as music here in Canada. The supreme court ruled that it was not illegal to upload music to the internet. They have also uled that it is not illegal to download music from the internet. The Uploading argument is something along the lines as comparing it to having books in a library. You are allowed to have copyrighted books in a library, you are also allowed to have a photocopier in a library, and they are two seperate entities, so there can be no limitations on music being uploaded to the internet because just becuase you pur your " library" of music on the internet, and there are " photocopyers" (other computers) out there, doesn' t mean that you are responsible for what is done with those photocopiers. I' m not sure how the argument for the downloading goes, but I know it' s legal as well.

One of the perks of living in Canada.. legal sharing of music and such.. via the internet.

I guess I can understand their argument....wish it was like that in the old US of A. They' re not quite as understanding. But what is Canada' s view on sharing films? thats the only thing that ive come in contact with here in america.

I' m not sure on the sharing films issue. I cannot imagin the courts would view film media any differently than audio media right now though. Sorry for the crappy answer.

hahaha....no worries. altho...I feel like film is a lot more expensive to make, budgets, etc...i could see how it would be a little different with films. you can really catch some pretty wicked slaps for that here. but would love to know if it actually doesn' t matter in canada. that' d be interesting.

What I want to know is what are the regulations involving persons from the US uploading material onto Canadian servers?? Or vice versa, Canadians Downloading music off of US Servers?

Well I tried to figure out what the deal was with that....but couldnt figure it out. however, i would think that you could potentially get some pushback since you are dabbling in the US to some degree. again...not worth it in my book....but hey, its your book you' re dealing with...heh.

Dealing with the US would have nothing to do with it if you were outside the US. That is unless your country has some kind of deal between the two about following eachothers laws (ie. income tax agreements). I know Canada has these, but I don' t think they pertain to this situation since you are never entering the US. I' ll see if I can find out from the CRTC (it' s the governing body for crap like this in Canada) and post the info.

This is interesting stuff.....sounds a bit scary for me tho, perfect for a law and ethics class.

I know that this is a bit like raising the dead, but when I saw this article, i thought you all (mxpx182 at least) might be interested...so I thought I' d post it on up.

If you' ve already heard about this then just ignore, but apparently canada is looking to get involved in file sharing now. have you actually heard rumblings about this mxpx? if so, i would love to hear....

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/61782[link=][/link]

That.... doesn' t sound like it was getting out of hand to me. Your friend was, in fact, distributing ripped movies illegally (even if he was doing it for free it' s still illegal). So I can' t really feel bad for him. People download music every day, and they know it' s illegal, but it' s really hard to stop unless someone forces you too.

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=27453&category=main
Its stuff like this that really ' busts my ginolas' (thats a phrase right?) anyway,
Its one thing for an ISP to send you a desist letter - after all you signed a contract with them.
But to actually give away your details to a music/film trade group is just underhanded.

lotussun...you' re def right...its his own fault....but i always thought the MPAA went after the big dogs...not just some guy who rips a few dvds and throws them on his share folder. cmon now.

owain....its interesting that ISP' s are actually giving OUT this information. I always thought that my isp would go to bat for me to try to protect me. apparently not. although it seems verizon isnt so keen on coughing up the information so easily.

I know that this is a bit like raising the dead, but when I saw this article, i thought you all (mxpx182 at least) might be interested...so I thought I' d post it on up.

That is interesting eastwood, I wish there was a date on that article so I could put it on a timeline with what I know of when certain rulings were made, It' s certanly newer than dec 2003, and looking at the replies to it, it suggests very recently. However, I can tell you that this is not making the news in Canada right now, so there must not be a very big push for it. The article is right In that the Government is in a minority situation, so they can' t just push things through outright, however I doubt this would be an issue that would " devide the house" . If I hear anything more about this, I' ll post.